


Clarity - Remember Me Prequel

by ColonelSoapScum



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: AU, Gen, M/M, Other, Police AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-12
Updated: 2014-01-15
Packaged: 2018-01-08 12:20:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,435
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1132594
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ColonelSoapScum/pseuds/ColonelSoapScum
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This is a pre-story to the current story I'm working on, also in collaboration with Alexxa (tumblr user actualknightrinokumura) who has basically been writing Levi's parts, and a few others, in an RP we've been doing. </p><p>I've wanted to start writing a long chapter fic based on the role play that we've been doing, whether concentrating on certain parts or going chronologically and just seeing where it goes.</p><p>However these next few chapters start before our starting point, so I may add or take away some things in here as it goes along.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Part 1

Crinkled money slipped through his fingers, another pile of twenty dollar bills in exchange for a night of mindless, meaningless sex. She didn’t beg to stay like the previous one, making a mental note to call her next time. Clingy women were always problematic.

Erwin put on a pair of jeans and showed her to the door, stepping out of his first floor apartment. It was starting to finally get chilly at night, especially at three in the morning in the middle of October. He reached into his pocket for his pack of cigarettes and took one out. Expertly he flipped open his metal lighter and inhaled the toxic smoke as he lit it.

"If you continue to smoke outside without a shirt on you’re going to catch a cold," a familiar voice, grave and unamused.

"If you continue to stalk me at my own home I will call the police,"

"You are the police, old man," the short man stepped into the small light from the wall lamp and sat down on the wooden bench. He wore a jacket and a scarf, combined with jeans and a pair of boots. The normal look for him when they met.

Erwin sighed, “What do you want Levi? I’m not on duty, you should have no reason to see me,” he took a drag of his cigarette and looked at his informant, “And at my own house no less,” the last thing he needed was his hobby leaking out.

"Shut up, I’m not here to lecture you about your hooker fixation," Levi growled, he could stand to care less actually, "I have information for you and it’s important," Erwin’s silence allowed Levi to move on, "There’s a small group of thieves causing problems. We have tried to take care of them, but we don’t have the resources to take care of them properly. In exchange for your aid, I can give you everything I know about them,"  
Erwin sighed and took another drag of his cigarette, “Alright, I’m on duty tomorrow night. Find out where they’re gonna be and let me know. You have my number,”

Levi looked at Erwin with a straight face, “You know our agreement right? I almost got caught last time I helped you, you’re becoming careless,”

“You help me catch crimes in the act with your valuable information, and I protect your freedom,” he reiterated for what sounded like the thousandth time.

"Precisely. Otherwise I’ll find you and I’ll take care of you myself," Levi got up and gently took Erwin’s cigarette out between his fingers and put it in his own mouth. He looked at his naked chest one more time before walking away.

—

A crashing sound woke Levi up prematurely, he grumpily rolled over to his bedside table and looked at his phone; 7:35. He wouldn’t have been so upset if he hadn’t been out so late the previous night. Another shout from the living room finally got Levi out of bed as he pulled on a pair of jeans and his shirt from the day before.

What he saw was no surprise to him, Hanji stumbling around the first floor of their small house. She was probably hungover, and trying to find what she needed for her next sale. “What the fuck is your problem four eyes?” at the sound of his voice, Hanji stopped and turned around to look at Levi.

"Levi? Levi, oh god you’re awake. um. Where’s the stash for today?" she adjusted her glasses and wiped her nose. She seemed a bit frantic, more than usual.

Levi raised an eyebrow, “It should be in the coffee table where you put it yesterday,” he continued to watch her as she looked, then noticing red dripping from her nose. His heart skipped a beat, she’d been abusing again. He pulled his black bandana that was hanging out of his back pocket, “Hanji, look at me,”

"Levi, what is it? I’m in a hur—" she looked up when she found the bag of white powder and was interrupted by Levi placing his bandana onto her face, halting the flow of blood.

"Stop ingesting your job into you. I’m going to call Petra next time, and she’s going to end up admitting you." he looked into her dilated eyes intently, she looked back and shook her head.

"Don’t tell Petra. Please," she whispered, her heart was still racing. The thought of her best friend finding out was not a good one.

Levi brought Hanji’s hand up to her nose to replace his. “Then stop doing this. It’s for your own good. I’m going out with Erd and Gunther tonight, I also let the police Chief know we need help with these guys.”

Hanji finished cleaning her nose and grabbed her bag and jacket, “Be careful, Levi” she sniffed to make sure no more blood was coming out and smiled, “I’m going to do collection rounds,”

"You’re the one who needs to be careful," he watched his room mate leave with a wave. Levi looked around the house, it needed a good clean.

—

Erwin sat back down in his squad car and finished writing up the ticket he just issued. Another sixteen year old driving their parent’s expensive foreign car, always the same. While he was waiting on word from Levi, driving around on patrol was the only thing he could do. He turned the flashing lights off and drove through the city.

A familiar ringtone sounded off from his pocket and he dug his cell phone out and looked at the caller ID. His high hopes for new information were crushed by the name of a fellow officer, and his best friend.

"Mike, I’m on patrol, what do you need?" he usually only called Erwin on his cell when it was urgent.

"Remember that group of thugs we almost busted last month? I have some rookies trying to track them down," Mike was collected as usual, he and Erwin knew each other from their police academy days.

Erwin sighed and pulled over to scan for speeders again, “Send me their numbers so I can talk to them. That’s the same group that my informer is associated with. I can’t risk any of them getting caught,”

"Sure thing. Also, can you cover my patrol tomorrow night? I have a date coming into town for the night tomorrow and I cant miss her," Mike sounded desperate, as always when it came to women. Still trying to find that perfect girl, but never ends up staying with the same one for more than a month.

"Yeah, I can do that. I’ll catch up with you tonight, drinks at the bar?"

"As always, see you later,"

Erwin hung up the phone and sat back sighing a bit. It was a struggle keeping his side of the bargain with Levi at times, especially with Mike constantly asking to switch shifts with him. Trying to get the rookies to back off was a pain, most of the force knew they were too much and dangerous, which is why most of them left it to Erwin to deal with.

Part of him wondered why he even still does it in the first place. After a year they’ve only exchanged information on low grade crimes, when he knew the bigger stuff was going on behind Levi’s watch. There was another underlying reason, but Erwin’s duties as an officer came first.

—

Later that night Levi donned his heavy jacket and walked downtown to meet with Erd and Gunther. He texted Erwin ahead of time, making sure they were all clear. This time he was sent to an alley in the warehouse district, a place where he definitely did not feel welcome.

He walked around the corner of a few shipment containers and heard shouts and a loud smack, Erd, Gunther and another kid he didn't recognize already made it and had two guys held back.  
"So, what the hell is this?" Levi got a closer look, "Two little shits thinking they can run the show? Hold them until the Chief gets here, it should be any minute,"

Like clockwork, a squad car showed up with its lights going, followed by a second one. Once they both stopped, two officers stepped out of them with their guns pointed, yelling at them to keep their hands up. This was bad, and not according to plan.

"Shit. None of them are Erwin, he didn’t get here in time," he was knocked back as one of the guys wriggled free while Erd was distracted and ran off, causing the other guy to run off in a separate direction, "You two get out of here, I'll get the kid. I need more information!"

Levi took off away from the squad cars in the direction of the first brat. He was easy to follow, as his obnoxious wallet chain was jingling in the night. Levi’s boots causing a commotion along with it as he ran. The kid took him into a labyrinth of shipping containers, running out Levi’s patience as he took his knife out of the back of his pants and threw it at the kid, piercing him in the calf. He caught up with the toppled over thug in time to push him down by the shoulders.

"Hey.. Hey!" Levi tried to get the kids attention through the groaning and struggling. A swift punch to the jaw got the kid to clam up quickly, "Hey, listen to me you pile of shit. We know what you’re doing and quite frankly you’re causing problems for me,"

The kid peered up at Levi and scowled, “So what? Like I care,”

Levi punched him again, “You should care, because otherwise I’m going to skewer your eyeballs out. Where is your target tomorrow?”

Blood started to gush from the kid’s nose. “Fu…fuck you,” just then the brat's phone went off and Levi reached into the kid’s pocket and looked at it.

He grinned as it showed an address for a jewelry store. “Communication is really shitty with you guys. Thanks for the info,” he tossed his phone on the ground and plucked his knife out of the kid’s calf. Standing up he cleaned off the blade before sheathing it. “You guys are finished,” he looked up when he heard officers yelling nearby, and quickly ran off into the night to meet up with Erd and Gunther.


	2. Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Levi and Erwin plan for success, until the worst happens.

Erwin showed up at the bar as agreed upon by his informer for lunch. Maybe ‘agreed’ wasn’t the best word he would describe it as; forced was more like it. He screwed up the night before, the rookies he was supposed to contact the previous day arrived at the warehouse district before he could. It went all downhill from there, from an angry text from Levi to trying to figure out how he would explain it. Regardless if he could find a good excuse, Levi would give him an earful for sure. Not like he wasn’t used to it. That voice would forever be imprinted in his memory.

The jingling bell was the only thing he heard upon arrival, a bar during the day usually only had one worker and generally less than a handful of patrons. One of them sitting at the bar being the short brunette, who turned to him immediately with a scowl. Erwin sat down next to him and ignored the angry messages coming from his facial expression.

"Do you have shit for brains or are you slowly turning against me?" Levi was pissed, within reason.

"I know, I’m sorry. The rookies are spitfires when they’re able to go out on their own. I should have them in more control," he was used to taking the rap for his subordinates. He would talk to them the next chance he could. He couldn’t, however, be upset at them for actually doing their jobs. If it weren’t for the circumstances, it would have been an appropriate way for them to act.

"We almost got caught. I’ll reiterate what I said last night; you’re becoming careless. What is your deal?" Levi took a bite of what was left of his burger. It certainly smelled good, Erwin’s stomach started to feel hungry.

"I’m a busy man, Levi. Understand my position and expectations that I ha—"

"Cut the crap, Smith. You’re a workaholic and that is not a good excuse for what happened. It’s no wonder you’re still single,"

Erwin side eyed him heavily, he didn’t want to get into their personal lives. Trying to keep it professional between them was starting to get harder and harder each time they met, “I’m sure you didn’t call me here to lecture me,” he exhaled through his nose and thanked the bartender for the glass of water.

Levi clicked his tongue and finished his drink. Erwin couldn’t tell if it was alcoholic or not, it wouldn’t surprise him either way. He seemed like the kind of guy who would drink at any hour of the day, “The guys we were supposed to get last night are hitting a jewelry store tonight. I will send you the address, and this is huge. We have to get these guys, they have information that we, you and I, need desperately. You have to be there, if anything be there early,”

"I’ll be there. I’m on patrol anyways. I’ll station myself near the store, and help out. I have a few people I will call for back up that I trust," He turned the coaster under his glass of water. This was most likely his last chance before Levi cut ties with him, which could mean his life.

“Park across the street from the store, I will be with my partners waiting for them,” he started to finish off his fries, “We’re going to try and apprehend them before they get into the store and interrogate them there in the alley. I’m going to need you to be there for arresting, my partners know not to do anything stupid,” he hoped anyway. They were usually good at dealing with cops.

Erwin nodded slightly, he looked at what was left of Levi’s food, “I understand. We’ll get this done,”

"Good," he paid for his food in cash and stood up. "As long as nothing bad happens, it should go smoothly," Levi’s eyes met with Erwin’s bright blue ones for a long second before walking out of the bar.

Erwin watched him leave and took a deep breath. While he was there he might as well eat something.

"Just a burger and fries, please,"

—

Night fell quickly, and Levi made his way to the meeting point with Erd and Gunther. Passing by other people and cars, he walked up to the jewelry store and turned into the alley just before it. As planned, he found the familiar old red beater car waiting. He looked around before getting into the back seat of the car, alcohol immediately filled his senses.

"Levi! Levi’s here!" Erd shouted loud enough for the whole city to hear. Levi snatched the plastic bottle of cheap vodka out of his hand. That was not part of the plan at all.

"Are you guys fucking morons? Why the hell are you drinking on the job?" he realized just how much they had drank when he found a second, yet empty, bottle in the backseat next to him.

Gunther let out a chuckle, “Loosen up boss, we have your cop friend helping us this should be a piece of cake,”

Levi was livid, this isn’t how things were supposed to go at all. Alcohol clouds judgment, especially in Erd’s case. He growled, “I ought to shove both of these bottles up your asses for this, I’m taking you off the job immediately. Get a cab and go home,” he looked out the window and noticed the black, and probably expensive, undercover squad car that Erwin drove in the alley directly across the street.

He opened the door and got out of the car, ignoring the remarks and obscenities coming from his partners. He threw the half empty bottle of vodka into the dumpster next to him and walked to the edge of the alley. Pulling his hood up, he looked around to see if he could spot their targets. However, everything was quiet, there was something definitely wrong.

An unexpected sound of glass shattering was heard to Levi’s right; coming from the jewelry store. Of course they would come from the opposite side, why didn’t Erwin act on it if he could clearly see it? He surely wasn’t waiting for Levi’s signal. He made the executive decision to apprehend them right then and there, he was the brawn of the job and it needed to get done. Levi ran along the side of the building and got out his gun and started to shoot at the hooded figure standing outside of the broken window.

It was then he heard a second set of gun shots coming from inside of the jewelry store, breaking the window closest to Levi. He ducked behind the nearby mailbox, looking over to where Erwin’s car moved to. He parked his car at an angle facing the store on the opposite side of the street and was crouched behind it, leaning against the front hood. Most likely taking it upon himself to start shooting at the burglars as they started to shoot at his informer.

Levi heard a car rev up behind him, the fucking beater car holding his two wasted partners. They didn’t leave after all. Tires squealed, and behind him the car peeled out of the alley way. He turned his head immediately, watching the car pass by him, aimed at Erwin’s car.

Everything seemed to happen in slow motion, he watched Erwin turn his head towards Levi and the red car heading straight for him. He crouched more behind the car to roll out of the way, but he reacted too late. Erd drove straight into the side of Erwin’s car opposite of where he was behind it for cover. As the car was pushed towards the building behind the Chief, the right side of his body was caught by the front end of the black squad car. The entire pile up pushed all the way to the building behind them, crushing Erwin between the car and the deep red brick wall.

In that split second after impact, Levi heard the worst noise that he had ever witnessed. The absolute crunching of bones seemed louder than the impact of the cars colliding, the alarm from the jewelry store, and the mindless screaming that came out of Levi’s throat combined. All gunshots ceased, the air around him felt stale. After what felt like forever, only the alarms from the cars and store rang out in the night. For a moment Levi was frozen, all he could do was watch.

It seemed like a dream, he forgot about the two men they were supposed to catch. About how angry he was, and would be at Erd for doing what he did. Once Levi felt his heart beating again he stood up and ran over to the pinned body, screaming his informant’s name. Blood was dripping and pooling between Erwin and the car, it dripped down Erwin’s uniform and soiled his golden hair and skin. Levi swore he was dead, he wasn’t moving at all. Stumbling, he climbed over the knocked over newspaper stands strewn about and gingerly touched Erwin’s perfect cheeks.

They were still warm. He lifted his bleeding, unconscious head up, and peered over to his right side, the front of the familiar squad car blocking anything from just below Erwin’s right shoulder. It somehow missed anything else, but he could only imagine what else could be broken. However, he felt his arm was completely decimated; it was practically flattened against the wall. The car was the only thing keeping him sitting upright. Levi was deathly afraid of moving him, lest he bleed out, but he needed medical attention.

Before he could make the decision he heard sirens arriving and shouts from other people. Back-up finally arrived. He looked around and then back at Erwin, someone would take care of him. He was their beloved police Chief, they had to. He quickly reached his head down and pressed his ear against Erwin’s chest, hearing a faint heartbeat. That was good enough for him. The shouts got closer, and he made the decision to run forgetting about his partners, and leaving his injured informant to the medics and his fellow officers.


End file.
